High school teachers to begin job action next week

SIMCOE COUNTY – A tentative agreement between the bargaining unit for Simcoe County high school teachers and their employer, the Simcoe County District School Board, has been scrapped.
Ian Tudor, president of District 17 (Simcoe) of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), said the agreement hammered out by the two parties and sent to the Ministry of Education for pre-approval returned with additional language that was not endorsed by the bargaining team.
“At this time, we do not believe it is in the best interest of the membership to continue with the bargaining and ratification process,” said Tudor. “On Monday, Dec. 10, our members will return to job sanctions as outlined by the provincial OSSTF.”
Tudor attended the Dec. 3 session in Toronto where OSSTF president Ken Coran expressed his displeasure over the handling of the agreement.
“I came back on Monday evening for a joint teacher bargaining unit council and collective bargaining committee meeting,” Tudor said. “It was agreed the agreement we signed off on is not the one that came back to us. We are trying to find out where this new language came from.”
As a result, high school teachers will enact a series of sanctions, including the withdrawal from voluntary and extracurricular activities, as outlined by the provincial federation.
Education Minister Laurel Broten refuted Tudor’s claims in an email sent to Metroland Media.
“There has been no interference in local bargaining,” she stated. “That allegation is completely false. I am disappointed that OSSTF has decided to end bargaining at the local level and to resume job action that puts our students in the middle. We have always said we would work with teachers to negotiate local agreements. That process has been successful. My ministry has reviewed each of the tentative agreements reached so far and deemed each of those agreements workable.”
“We understand this may upset some parents and students,” Tudor said. “We hope this can be used as a learning opportunity so that students can realize the fight for democracy and democratic rights should be supported and not taken lightly. We are fighting for their future rights and the rights of all working Ontarians.”
Aware of the growing number of student protests occurring throughout the region, he added: “You never saw any of these student protests before Bill 115. There is really an easy fix to this: Repeal Bill 115.”
In public elementary schools, the 2,200 members of the Simcoe County Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) began an administrative work-to-rule on Monday. All extracurricular activities, field trips, staff meetings, professional development and parent interviews are curtailed.
“Our focus will be on planning, teaching and ensuring our students’ safety,” said Simcoe County ETFO president Janet Bigham. “Supervision duties will continue, and every school will have a duty schedule for before school, recess, lunch and after school.”
Local boards of education will be given 72 hours notice of any walkout by teachers. If Simcoe County public schools are impacted by strike action, the board will communicate to parents through the media and via the board website (www.scdsb.on.ca).
Late last week, Brian Beal, director of the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, dispatched a communiqué to parents and guardians.
Earlier this year, the board reached a memorandum of understanding with its elementary and secondary school teachers.
In a letter dated Nov. 29, Beal updated the status of ongoing negotiations with other unionized employees who are members of the OSSTF, including office and clerical staff, educational assistants, designated early-childhood educators and maintenance staff.
Employees in these groups have begun job action in the form of withdrawing some of the services they perform, Beal explained.
“While we have positive and strong relationships with all of our employee groups, we recognize that they will follow union direction during this labour situation,” he said. “Student safety and support are always our primary concern and, along with our principals and senior staff, I am closely monitoring the situation in our schools.”
Parents can keep informed by visiting the board’s website at www.smcdsb.on.ca.